JACKSON — Coach Mark LaFon looked out onto the court and saw his team.

But it was there only in appearance, not spirit.

LaFon took care of his team’s physical performance at halftime and the result was a second half comeback as the Ironton Fighting Tigers toppled the Jackson Ironmen 57-39 Friday in the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League opener for both teams.

“We did not play well in the first half,” LaFon said of Ironton’s first half effort that had Jackson ahead 26-20.

But Ironton played up to its potential in the second half and limited Jackson to 13 points and cruised to the win.

“Physically we weren’t going out and challenging ourselves. We just weren’t doing it,” LaFon said.

“Someone said at halftime that Jackson was shooting 71 percent. Jackson wasn’t shooting 71 percent, they were shooting layups. They got anything they wanted because we let them.”

Ironton (2-1, 1-0) didn’t let Jackson get much at all in the second half.

The Fighting Tigers began the second half with an 8-0 run as Chad Miller - who sat out most of the first half in foul trouble - followed up a missed shot and then fed T.J. Keith for a layup.

Miller and Shannon Hensley made layups and Ironton led 28-26 with 3:40 left in the quarter.

Back-to-back layups by Tyler Shoemaker gave Ironton a 34-32 lead at the end of the quarter. Shoemaker also sat out most of the first half with foul trouble.

Tyler Boggs made a foul shot for Jackson in between layups by Andy Colegrove and Shoemaker as Ironton went up 38-33. Alstan Carter got another layup and Colegrove his short jump hook and it was 42-33 with 5:28 to play.

Ryan Borden stopped the bleeding for a moment with a layup for Jackson, but Shoemaker hit a driving layup and Miller came up with a steal and fed Marc Carter for a layup and it was 46-35.

Keith his a baseline jumper, Miller followed up his own shot and added a pair of free throws, and Shoemaker had two foul shots as Ironton continued to pull away.

Marc Carter led Ironton with 15 points and 6 assists. Shoemaker had 11 points. Miller had 10 points, 5 assists and 5 steals.

Alstan Carter, Keith and Hensley had 4 rebounds each.

Jackson (3-1, 0-1) was led by Borden with 15 points but only 6 in the second half.

Ironton1191423=57

Jackson121467=39

IRONTON (2-1, 1-0): Marc Carter 3 2 3-4 15, Alstan Carter 2 0 0-0 4, Tyler Shoemaker 4 0 3-4 11, T.J. Keith 3 0 0-0 6, Andy Colegrove 2 0 0-0 4, Chad Miller 4 0 2-4 10, Zach Christensen 0 0 1-2 1, Shannon Hensley 2 0 0-0 4, Drew Kuehne 1 0 0-0 2, Dustin Greene 0 0 0-0 0, Bub Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Lukas Morris 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-42

9-14

59. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-10. Rebounds: 5-10=15 (A. Carter 4, Keith 4, Hensley 4). Assists: 18 (M. Carter 6, Miller 5, A.Carter 3, Shoemaker 3). Steals: 9 (Miller 5, M. Carter 2). Turnovers: 10. Blocked shots: 3 (A. Carter, Shoemaker, Keith).

JACKSON (3-1, 0-1): Ryan Borden 6 0 3-3 15, Tyler Boggs 0 1 1-2 4, Patrick Dell 4 0 1-2 9, Zane Holzapfel 3 0 0-1 6, Andy Blescher 0 0 0-0 0, Bryan Delong 0 0 0-0 0, Evan Osbourne 1 1 0-0 5, Evan Stacey 0 0 0-0 0, Josh Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Brandon Ondera 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-32

5-8

39. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-7. Rebounds: 5-10=15 (Holtzapfel 6). Assists: 8 (Dell 4). Steals: 1 (Boggs). Turnovers: 22. Blocked shots: 0.